IWD 2022: Gender Minister helping to #BreaktheBias

AS the minister of culture, gender, entertainment and sport, Olivia Grange has been commendably vocal about gender issues since being assigned the portfolio. One of her most notable achievements has been opening two domestic violence shelters in short order as promised, the first time the country has operated State-owned shelters for women.

What makes Grange so invested in the portfolio? The minister says gender issues are personally important to her, and  the Jamaican society will never grow to realise its fullest potential if issues such as discrimination on the basis of sex, exploitation of women, gender inequality and all forms of gender-based violence continue to persist.

She spent some time to talk about her work with the ministry, what she sees for the future, and how important this year’s IWD theme is, as she seeks to #BreaktheBias.

Q: Why is gender an area that’s personally important to you?

A: As minister of gender affairs, tackling gender issues is personally important to me because I recognise that gender is a cross-cutting issue, being an integral component to every aspect of the economic, social and private lives of all individuals within any society. I remain committed to ensure that the fundamental human rights of persons are recognised, so that we can create a Jamaican society in which women and men have equal access to socially valued goods and are able to contribute to national development. 

This is in keeping with the vision statement of our National Policy for Gender Equality (NPGE). Through strategic collaboration and strategic partnership, my team and I are determined to do our part to make Jamaica the place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business, as envisioned under the Vision 2030 Jamaica: National Development Plan.

As a woman leading at a time when men are becoming conscious of their existence as being gendered, I rely on a quote by Audre Lorde, who is known for her advocacy on the unique oppression faced by black women to inspire me to continue: “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.”

I want to see a Jamaica where everyone has access to socially valued goods without discrimination and that is what drives me to continue to make the gender portfolio be as impactful as it can. From where I stand, gender equality is guided by human rights. It is guided by giving a voice to the voiceless. It amplifies the concerns of the marginalised people. Essentially, gender as a portfolio is in touch with the soul and pulse issues in our society and so it is a kind of honour that places more responsibility on me to not to disappoint this part of Jamaica that is expecting me to make a positive impact on the country and region’s gender architecture.

Q: What achievement would you say you’re most proud of, since taking over the portfolio?

A: This is a very hard question to respond to, because there has been so much work done in the gender portfolio. It is simply hard to single out a particular achievement to say that for example, the National Policy for Gender Equality (2011) that I led in 2011 was my best achievement to date in terms of how it has transformed the gender relations in the country in the last ten years; the implementation of gender aware, gender sensitive and gender responsive national policies and plans; or a multi-faceted and multi-sectoral framework to address the key issues and challenges as they relate to victims/survivors, perpetrators and witnesses of acts of violence against our women and girls.

I have also introduced and operationalised the National Shelter Strategy which has already opened two shelters for gender-based violence, which again, is the first time that the country has operated State-owned shelters for women and their children.

A third shelter will be opened by the end of this year. A commitment was made by the Government for three shelters to be established as Jamaica 55 Legacy Projects. Commitment made, commitment fulfilled.

I can also speak to the country now having the Sexual Harassment (Protection and Prevention) Act, 2021 that prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace, in institutions and in the provision of accommodation.

There are so many other achievements I can list, but I think my greatest achievement to date has been my ability to bring the concerns of the women advocates on the ground to the normative legal framework of the country.

Q: Do you think that there has been more attention and interest in the public sphere about gender issues, since you’ve made them such a priority?

A: I must say that I have noticed the interest in gender has changed immensely over the years. I remember when championing gender issues was a lonely struggle. Today, gender is everyone’s concern and I attribute that shift in this consciousness to when we changed the Bureau of Women’s Affairs to the Bureau of Gender Affairs (BGA) in 2016.

Our people are very reasonable and so, once confronted with the information, people quickly adjust their beliefs concerning discriminatory practices. Now, we have all seen that gender equality warrants targeted procedures, policies, legislations and constant research to update accepted knowledge. I am very confident about the future in terms of strengthening frameworks that monitors the progress we have made in gender equality.

I commend the team at the BGA for working steadily in partnership with other ministries, departments and agencies, international development partners and multiple public agencies to raise awareness on a range of gender-specific issues. The BGA continues to take the lead on extensive sensitisation and awareness-raising campaigns on gender issues across under-served communities and urban town centres.

This advocacy has facilitated increased sensitisation on a range of topics, including domestic violence, intimate partner violence, sexual harassment, men and masculinity issues and so many more. The awareness-raising activities target persons from across age groups, sectors and geographic locations. Most importantly, the sensitisation process meets people where they are so that this education is easily accessible. In this regard, the BGA has reached persons within organisations such as ministries, departments and agencies of government; personnel within private sector organisations; persons who reside within urban and rural communities and take part in their respective community groups; members of churches and different faith-based organisations; schools, from primary to tertiary levels; and non-governmental organisations, among others.

Q: Do you think that your work has contributed to the ordinary Jamaican woman being more aware of her rights, and her status as a woman in society?

A: Yes, I believe that my work has helped to heighten the ordinary Jamaican woman’s understanding of her rights and her status within the Jamaican society.

I never shy away from informing women, and the wider Jamaican public at large, about the problems that continue to plague the women within our society.

I am proud that during my tenure as minister, through strategic partnerships, we’ve managed to garner nationally representative and accessible empirical evidence on the vexed issue of violence against women, through the publication of the Women’s Health Survey. Besides that, other areas have been identified to address the disproportionate impact of the developmental process on women using a risk-management approach.

My ministry, through the national gender machinery, has continued to implement extensive public education such as that seen in the ‘No Excuse for Abuse’ campaign which not only aims to promote awareness raising of violence against women, but is also geared towards the elimination of destructive norms that enable and condone this violence.

It is the feedback from the ordinary Jamaican woman that has inspired us to start many pilot studies that later create policies, action plans and introducing or amending legislations. In fact, I extended the focus of the gender portfolio to work closer with community groups in urban and rural Jamaica.

To complement this, we have also provided subventions to our 19 selected groups that work in gender equality at a community level. They include Woman Inc and Enough is Enough. I have always maintained that my portfolio places me in the grassroots aspects of Jamaican life and this has developed a kind of trust that I do not take for granted.

I know that with this level of trust, I cannot disappoint the women in Jamaica who continue to send me messages on social media, or contact me personally to say how their lives have been positively enhanced by an institutional change that the portfolio has done. My page is also seen as a way for the public to monitor and evaluate the work that I do and the messages I get from multiple members of the public also enable me to either bolster certain initiatives.

I am confident that our work has enabled Jamaican women in general to be aware of their rights in our country.

Q: The United Nations has, as its IWD 2022 theme, ‘Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow’, recognising the contribution of women and girls around the world who are helping to build a more sustainable future for all of us. How would you say that as gender minister, you’re playing a part in building a sustainable future for Jamaican women?

A: As gender minister I strive towards the removal of systemic barriers that continue to impede the empowerment of our Jamaican women and girls. For instance, I will always lend my support to efforts geared towards extensive legislative review, reform and development as needed. Notably, I have chaired Joint Select Committees dedicated to amendment of existing key gender-based violence (GBV) legislation, such as the Sexual Offences Act, the Offences against the Person Act, the Domestic Violence Act, and the Child Care and Protection Act. I have also championed the development and enactment of new anti-GBV legislation such as the Sexual Harassment (Protection and Prevention) Act, 2021.

I also endeavour to provide Jamaican women with opportunities for social and economic empowerment, such as through the Community Outreach Through Partnership for Empowerment (COPE) initiative and the Women’s Entrepreneurship Support grant.

Furthermore, I realise that in order for Jamaican women to realise the future that they desire, they need support from men and boys and as such I lend my support to programmes to challenge toxic masculinity and encourage the treatment of women as equal partners and beneficiaries of national and sustainable development.

For every part of my portfolio, I am actively seeking to ensure that youths are included to understudy the work that is currently happening. We have to ensure that there is a transition plan for gender equality in Jamaica. In terms of sustainability, I continue to work with women in the communities through COPE to strengthen the capacities of women farmers who are affected by climate change; household workers, young women in politics, women in the tourism sector and survivors of gender-based violence. The Gender Advisory Council is also to be appointed for the next two years for the gender architecture to be guided in Jamaica. The Gender Ambassadors’ Programme is also very promising in building a sustainable future for women and girls. In terms of the policy side of my work, the year 2022 will be really interesting with the new insertions that are to come in terms of GBV service delivery. These will be important determinants in women rising above victimisation and enablers of inequality.

Q: One of the most impactful ways we can mark International Women’s Day is by rallying women in the community to help #BreaktheBias, and challenge gender stereotypes, discrimination and bias. How would you say you’ve been helping to shape a world where there’s positive visibility for women?

A: I always try to highlight women who have made a positive contribution to the Jamaican society and this is true, not only for my work with the gender portfolio, but also for my other portfolios of culture, entertainment and sport.

I am proud to announce that this year’s national observance of IWD will include an Empowerment Forum entitled ‘Breaking Barriers: Empowered Women, Empowering Women’. This banner event will feature powerful women coming together, not only to be recognised for their personal and collective contribution, but also to motivate and inspire other women to realise their innate potential.

I have been able to make the efforts of women positively memorialised in the four portfolio areas, as well as outside of my portfolio areas. I would, however, say that all of the policy and outreach related work of the gender portfolio are responding to reducing existing barriers and by extension, promoting their positive visibility.

It may be through the shelter programme where women and their families are given the opportunity to rise above victimisation, or the Gender Ambassadors Programme where students are given the requisite tools to enable their schools to become gender aware. Breaking barriers could also be the various normative instruments that have been introduced or amended to reduce inequality in Jamaica through my portfolio. It could also be the introductions that are to be added to the normative framework in 2022. However, in my personal capacity, I create opportunities for younger women to have a seat at the decision making table.

Q: We know of your plans for the third shelter, and more work to address some of the problems faced by the marginalised in Jamaica, what other plans are on the agenda for 2022?

A: High on the agenda for 2022 is the completion and launch of the Gender-based Violence Referral Pathway, memoranda of understanding with key institutions to boost GBV service delivery in Jamaica, launching the GBV helpline, the launch of the All Women’s Parliamentary Gender Caucus, the start of the sexual harassment tribunal, the revised gender policy with some new priority areas to reduce inequality , work with local stakeholders with GBV shelters in Jamaica to ensure that there is uniformity in service delivery, and the Diamond Jubilee Awards where 60 women who have contributed to the growth and development of Jamaica in identified areas will be awarded.

We will also be implementing the REFOCUS Perpetrators Programme, which aims to rehabilitate past offenders of intimate partner violence; the official rollout of the Revised National Policy for Gender Equality, which will incorporate sensitisation sessions to bring awareness to the newly revised policy (previously published in 2011); the phased implementation of the Sexual Harassment (Protection and Prevention) Act 2021; and the establishment of the Sexual Harassment Tribunal, as the independent body that will be responsible for investigating sexual harassment allegations and administering penalties to offenders.

Q: In one sentence, can you say what your hopes are about what the future is looking like for Jamaican women and girls?

A: My hope for all Jamaican women and girls is that they will live in a society grounded in the principles of gender equality and equity. My hope is for a bright future for our Jamaican women and girls to have continued access to socially valued goods so that they can achieve their fullest potential and never experience any form of discrimination, exploitation or fear of violence by virtue of the fact that they were born WOMAN.